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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29452512">Beach Snapshot</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarinaTorment/pseuds/TsarinaTorment'>TsarinaTorment</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Thunderbirds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Beaches, Brothers, Family, Fluff, Gen, Ocean, Photography, Picnics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:01:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,627</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29452512</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsarinaTorment/pseuds/TsarinaTorment</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A camera, some time on the beach, and all his brothers. A perfect day for Virgil.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Virgil Tracy &amp; Scott Tracy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Beach Snapshot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gumnut/gifts">Gumnut</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Far above him, circling with intent to scavenge or thieve from the unwary, gulls circled. Virgil ignored them, his sole concession to their presence a lack of food in his hands. He had no intention of losing his lunch to an opportunistic bird.</p><p>Some way behind him, his brothers were lounging on the beach – with the exception of Gordon, who was living up to his reputation of being half-fish and was splashing around in the shallows. Even John had made an appearance down from space, although he was plastered with sunscreen and fully covered from head to toe. The parasol he and his tablet were sheltering under was just an additional precaution. Alan was howling something uncomplimentary at Gordon, who had apparently just got him wet, and Scott was watching with the fond exasperation of a big brother from where he was lounging on the sand.</p><p>Virgil would rejoin the chaos of his brothers later, but first he had something far more important to occupy himself with. The sun was glinting off the sea just right, drawing out the multiple shades of blue and greens of pure Pacific Ocean. Echoes of shadows where rocks lurked beneath the waters mottled the vista. Where one almost reached the surface, the water eddied into its own miniature whirlpool. Otherwise, the waves lapped at the beach harmlessly, leaving little ripples in the sand as the tide slowly receded.</p><p>The camera was a present from John, gifted at Christmas. It was a proper, professional one, complete with inter-changing lenses and a comforting weight to his hands. Virgil had used it to take snaps around Tracy Island, both to get used to it and to document the beauty of the island he was lucky enough to live on, but this was the first occasion he'd had to take it off the island and explore further.</p><p>His back to the chaotic scene of his family, he raised the lens to his eye and squinted out across the serenity of the ocean.</p><p><em>Click</em>.</p><p>Enhanced by the technological filters of the camera, the resulting image was breath-taking. Already idealistic blues and greens, the photograph came out vibrant – easily rivalling the colour of John's eyes – with silvers and golds highlighting where the sunlight hit the sea.</p><p>Pulling away from the camera, Virgil surveyed the scene with naked eyes again. He would never tire of watching the ocean swell, untouched by humanity. Behind him, he could still hear Gordon and Alan shouting, as the splashing intensified in volume.</p><p>Two brothers in the water now.</p><p>He glanced back over his shoulder to see Alan on Gordon's back. John was still lost in his tablet, and Scott had pulled on sunglasses and seemed to be sunbathing. Virgil shook his head fondly and headed further along the beach.</p><p>Beneath his feet, the sand gave way with little complaint. He picked his way around seashells, fondly remembering the days when Gordon would collect them all and lovingly arrange them in his room. Nowadays, his squid brother was a little more selective, but Virgil had no doubt that some would be returning with them from this trip, too.</p><p>There was a small outcrop of rocks, just before a turn around cliffs. He assessed them briefly, checking they were safe and not housing anything potentially hazardous, before letting his camera hang from the cord around his neck and scrambling up onto them.</p><p>It gave him a new vantage point, a new angle to watch the lazy waves from, and he pulled his camera back up to his eyeline to capture the subtle nuances. A slightly different shape of shadow here, a different shade of turquoise there. All moving to the ocean's ever-changing dance.</p><p>A diving bird popped into view, causing the water to ripple around where it had surfaced, and Virgil zoomed in on it, making it the centre focus of the next photograph.</p><p><em>Click</em>.</p><p>It was some sort of tern, he saw in the image, a little black cap standing out starkly against the blues and greens circling it in concentric rings. Dinner was clutched in its beak, and Virgil watched as it swallowed it down before diving beneath the surface again.</p><p>A single wisp of cloud passed in front of the sun, too thin to block the light but enough to shift the hues of the ocean ever so slightly. Virgil snapped that, too, watching the faintest of shadows breeze over the surface of the water.</p><p>Then he was moving again, picking his way down the other side of the rocks and placing him closer to the cliff. That had its own colours, mostly hues of browns and reds banded across varying depths of grey, and contrasted with both the golden sands at its base and the ocean horizon beyond it.</p><p>Another photograph, colours singing out as the digital lens caught them. Virgil snapped another, and then another as birds came and went, coming in to rest before flying out again.</p><p>Shadows changed, a previously highlighted section of cliff muted and throwing another section into sharp relief, and Virgil snapped that, too.</p><p>A flock of gulls came in low over the water, casting small ever-changing shadows over the vast expanse. <em>Click</em>.</p><p>It was his stomach that finally interrupted him, growling quietly and almost apologetically that it would like some sustenance, please. The packed picnic, hidden in bags and under John's parasol to stop opportunistic theft, wasn't made by Grandma, and if that wasn't incentive enough to go back to eat it, the fact that he would be facing worried siblings if he <em>didn't</em> resurface for food certainly was.</p><p>Still, he took one more snap of the ocean, where it ran up against the beach and left small grooves in the sand, before turning back around to face the way he came.</p><p>And jumped.</p><p>Scott was stood a little way behind him, leaning against an outcropping of rock with his sunglasses perched on top of his head. There was a soft smile on his face, the one that meant he'd been there for a while but Virgil had been too engrossed in his photography to notice.</p><p>Virgil sighed. "How long have you been watching me?" he asked. Scott shrugged.</p><p>"Long enough to see you're enjoying your new camera," he said. "How many shots have you taken?"</p><p>Virgil checked the number, and was a little surprised to see it was approaching the three-digit mark. He was sure he hadn't been out there <em>that</em> long. Still, "not nearly enough," he replied. Scott could – and obviously did – make his own conclusions from that.</p><p>"Well, there'll be plenty of time after lunch, if you're ready to come back for food," his big brother promised. "I'd say take as long as you need now, but I can't guarantee there'll be anything left after the vultures we're related to are done with it."</p><p>Scott would set some aside for him if he said he wasn't ready. That, Virgil knew for certain. Going back now meant loud brothers and splashing water and a jarring transition from the tranquillity of the rest of the beach.</p><p>It also meant precious time with all four of his brothers physically with him, a rare commodity in recent years, and he wasn't willing to give that up.</p><p>He tucked the camera back inside its case, safely away from sand or sprinkled salt water, and walked back to where Scott was waiting. His brother straightened as he approached.</p><p>"You're not leaving me with Grandma's cookies for lunch," he said, and Scott chuckled as they moved to head back to where John was no doubt keeping an eye on the youngest two in Scott's absence as they continued to play in the water.</p><p>"Wouldn't dream of it." Except Scott had a mischievous streak just like the rest of them and <em>would.</em> Virgil had fallen for that one before. He rolled his eyes and picked up the pace, rounding the bluff to see that his blond brothers were heaped together on the sand, pitifully reaching for the bags of food behind John.</p><p>The ginger was clearly on guard duty, but also had a mischievous streak himself. Virgil could see the moment they were spotted, because it was the moment John retrieved a box of sandwiches from one of the bags and then moved aside to let the youngest two pounce on it.</p><p>Sensing that the battle for lunch had begun, Virgil and Scott shared a look that was half alarmed, half competitive, before abandoning any pretence of a leisurely walk and instead racing across the last stretch of sand.</p><p>Scott would have won, except Virgil already knew his loss would have been inevitable without intervention. He grabbed onto his arm, hauling back on it and destabilising his brother enough for him to stumble slightly. An additional knock to the sunglasses still perched on top of his head, causing them to fall down awkwardly across Scott's face, and with an extra burst of speed, Virgil made it to the food first.</p><p>"Cheat," Scott grumbled, but there was laughter in his eyes and plenty of food for all of them, so Virgil just shrugged and took a large bite of his sandwich. If there was a triumphant grin on his face, well, it wasn't often he beat Scott in a foot race.</p><p>Next to him, Alan whined as Gordon swiped the sandwich he was apparently after, and a light scuffle broke out. Neither Scott nor John intervened, too busy hoarding their own food, and Virgil followed suit, content to leave the youngest to squabble good-naturedly.</p><p>The sun glinted off the ocean, still all those beautiful shades of blues and greens, and Virgil fingered his camera again.</p><p>Breath-taking views and surrounded by all of his brothers. It was a good day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's Nutty Day today (just gone midnight here so it counts, right?) so here's a little Virgil at the beach for her :D Happy birthday, Nutty!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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